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Brown outs and Grey areas - the truth!


Tim Mackey
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John, the most recent video link I can find on this thread was posted over three and a half years ago. The video linked to was clearly not the work of either Clive who posted it or Tim who mentioned it.

We can only guess what the reasons are behind the video owner making it private. Maybe he was "persuaded" by a third-party that he should remove it from general viewing?

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  • 5 months later...

Just thought I'd add I'm a happy Speky user, never had an issue with the equipment.

Only time I have seen issues was a little 1S set-up that browned-out when the motor was taken to full (obviously drawing lots of power and dropping the voltage)

I've heard people say stuff but never seen it and majority of our club is Speky

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  • 1 year later...

Tim with regard to your illegal solder - firstly I have some too and secondly.

When the 'lead' solder was to be replaced a few years ago I was working on equipment bought from us by the MOD and as we also serviced this gear we asked them if we had to swap to lead free. The answer was if the equipment was built using lead solder lead solder could be still used to repair it for as long as the equipment was in service. So I for one am still fixing my stuff with it and will be doing so for a few years yet. I have a large stock of Spektrum receivers and they have never skipped a beat, is this a bit of a carry over from the time when they first came out and were prone to the 'brown out'

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I'm seriously thinking of selling my Futaba 7c and the Rxs I have, and buying a Spekrum 6ix combo, or whatever they call the £60 combo. The reason being, I'll never become a dedicated rc pilot, and may want the convenience of the odd BNF kit, including helis.

However, if I thought about building something nice, I would keep to Futaba.

Maybe I have reached the age when money does not matter as much as time, or maybe I am old fashioned, but when it comes to radio, I'll take the best, which to my mind is Futaba. I simply cannot see the point of saving £100 on radio gear, when we may spend many hours and hundreds of pound building the perfect plane! And this business of RX and satellite RX- should it not set alarm bells ringing?

Edited By ted hughes on 04/04/2015 03:04:56

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Posted by Percy Verance on 04/04/2015 08:04:32:

What's a brown out? surprise

Yes Ted. I think I'd tend to shy away from a system which needed two receivers to ensure it worked ok. That said, many seem to use it.

Percy, that would rule out Multiplex M Link too then, their DR receivers have two receiving circuits and then compare the quality of the data from each receiver before sending it to the servos, rather than just picking the aerial with the strongest signal and processing that.

I do use Multiplex and Spektrum and I must admit I've never had a problem (RF wise with either) and don't find the satellite Rxs a pain, they are actually easier to install in some planes, just a bit of velcro and you can position them where you want.

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I had a very early DX7. Never had any trouble with it. I orefer the two receivers just as added belt and braces.

I did buy soem "Brownout preventers|" Basically capacitors that plug into a spare reciever socket. Don't know if they are really needed and I don't normally fit them. I might if I was using a lot f servos.

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The original experiments in the OP is something I have been meaning to try myself with different receivers for a long time much has been written about the low voltage intolerance of some Specky receivers . The thing that has always bothered me is why anyone is flying a system that let's it's RX supply get that low.

I have always maintained that many moddlers have always got very worked up about interference and blaming the most improbable things but totally ignoring the DC side of things which is the real issue

Anyway having read the latest post on this thread I did a very and I mean very quick test on my bench is a model with a Specky 6210 and satellite I disconnected the esc and the model just had two standard Futaba servos in stalled

The test involved

powering the RX from a variable bench supply .I was interested to check the voltage at which brown out occurred and more importantly recovery time

The results surprised me the receiver was still working at 3.2 volt and the servos were still responding,albeit very slowly. We must remember that this test was different from using battery's as the supply was regulated so stayed at 3.2 even on load. Interestingly enough the recovery time from total power off was instant.

I will do this experiment with some other Specky kit (although I have not got any of the older DSM2 ones previously mentioned). I will also try with a Futaba fhss setup and with orange receivers.

What did alarm me was a video on You Tube where a couple of different set ups took 5 and 7 seconds to recover from brownout

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Posted by Percy Verance on 04/04/2015 09:26:20:

But Frank, M-Link doesn't need two receivers (witness the single variants) to make it work. The twin versions offer more security for those whom feel they need it, with the single versions functioning perfectly well for those whom don't feel they want/need the complexity.'

I use just about all of the different types Frank, from the little 5ch cheapie job to the 12ch pro job. All seem fine, with none of this curious brown out problem I keep hearing about........

Edited By Percy Verance on 04/04/2015 09:31:57

Same here and I also use the Spektrum AR500 and AR600 which don't use a satellite Rx and they seem to work well too. So Spektrum gives you the choice too, while I mainly use Multiplex that's a personal choice, others may like the Spektrum system with multiple remote receivers to ensure they don't get any shielding effects, but their system doesn't require remote receivers they just provide those for those who want it, an alternative to linking two complete receivers together for additional diversity.

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Although lost in the ether somewhere I do recall a similar result in my original test. The rx I used continued to work right down to under 3v - albeit erratically.
Its really quite simple - and simply what spektrum have always stated - ensure your radio power supply can maintain a sufficient voltage to keep it operational. End of.
EVERY manufactured set has the same basic requirement - in fact every piece of electrical equipment has.
Insufficient volts = failure.
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As to needing two rx to work correctly that is also incorrect. I have used Spektrum exclusively for around 12 years or so - and the majority of my models utilise a single receiver. Increasing diversity in long large craft by the addition of a supplementary rx is simply a wise precaution.
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And this business of RX and satellite RX- should it not set alarm bells ringing?

Why should this ring alarm bell? as Masher has already stated space diversity is a common technique that has been used for decades. Lets face it, the aerial wont hear a signal if it aint there (for a number of reasons) and a little bit of wire is a little bit of wire regardeless of whichever manufacturer used it. And yes Futaba use diversity as well (two aerials in the TX)

There is however a good and valid idea to use whichever brand of radio you feel confidence in regardless of the fact that they are all as good as each other and it is possible that there are manufacturers that are trying to live on an old reputation that is no longer valid.

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Just thought of this whilst gardening. As far as I can tell we never used the term brownout on 27 or 35 MHZ .

Incidentally I posted info of a very cheap Flair indicator from the 80s that did infact detect brownouts, the post was met by total misunderstanding and dismissed in some cases.

Of course it still happened maybe its the fact that we are now using digital systems that can take an age to recover that it is more noticeble?

I now feel some need to add more experiments to the list and see what happens with 35MHz on PCM.

ensure your radio power supply can maintain a sufficient voltage to keep it operational. Wise words there Tim

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